Chapter LI.

In the next place, he expresses his approval of those who “hope that eternal life shall be enjoyed with God by the soul or mind, or, as it is variously called, the spiritual nature, the reasonable soul, intelligent, holy, and blessed;” and he allows the soundness of the doctrine, “that those who had a good life shall be happy, and the unrighteous shall suffer eternal punishments.”  And yet I wonder at what follows, more than at anything that Celsus has ever said; for he adds, “And from this doctrine let not them or any one ever swerve.”  For certainly in writing against Christians, the very essence of whose faith is God, and the promises made by Christ to the righteous, and His warnings of punishment awaiting the wicked, he must see that, if a Christian were brought to renounce Christianity by his arguments against it, it is beyond doubt that, along with his Christian faith, he would cast off the very doctrine from which he says that no Christian and no man should ever swerve.  But I think Celsus has been far surpassed in consideration for his fellow-men by Chrysippus in his treatise, On the Subjugation of the Passions.  For when he sought to apply remedies to the affections and passions which oppress and distract the human spirit, after employing such arguments as seemed to himself to be strong, he did not shrink from using in the second and third place others which he did not himself approve of.  “For,” says he, “if it were held by any one that there are three kinds of good, we must seek to regulate the passions in accordance with that supposition; and we must not too curiously inquire into the opinions held by a person at the time that he is under the influence of passion, lest, if we delay too long for the purpose of overthrowing the opinions by which the mind is possessed, the opportunity for curing the passion may pass away.”  And he adds, “Thus, supposing that pleasure were the highest good, or that he was of that opinion whose mind was under the dominion of passion, we should not the less give him help, and show that, even on the principle that pleasure is the highest and final good of man, all passion is disallowed.”  And Celsus, in like manner, after having embraced the doctrine, “that the righteous shall be blessed, and the wicked shall suffer eternal punishments,” should have followed out his subject; and, after having advanced what seemed to him the chief argument, he should have proceeded to prove and enforce by further reasons the truth that the unjust shall surely suffer eternal punishment, and those who lead a good life shall be blessed.

Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀποδέχεται τοὺς τὴν ψυχὴν ἢ τὸν νοῦν ἢ τὸ καλούμενον παρ' αὐτοῖς πνευματικὸν ἢ λογικὸν πνεῦμα νοερὸν ἅγιον καὶ μακάριον ἢ ψυχὴν ζῶσαν ἐλπίζοντας ἕξειν αἰώνιον, καὶ σὺν θεῷ αὐτὸ ἔσεσθαι, προσίεται δὲ ὀρθῶς νομιζόμενον καὶ τὸ μὲν περὶ τῶν εὖ βιωσάντων ὡς εὐδαι μονησόντων δόγμα περὶ δὲ τῶν ἀδίκων ὡς πάμπαν αἰωνίοις κακοῖς συσχεθησομένων. Καὶ τεθαύμακά γε τοῦ Κέλσου παρὰ πάντα τὰ λεγόμενα παρ' αὐτῷ τὸ οὕτως ἐπιφερόμενον τοῖς προειρημένοις, ἐν ᾧ φησι· Καὶ τούτου δὲ τοῦ δόγματος μήθ' οὗτοι μήτ' ἄλλος ἀνθρώπων μηδείς ποτε ἀποστῇ. Καὶ ἐχρῆν γε αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν γράφοντα, οἷς ἡ πᾶσα ὑπόθεσίς ἐστι τῆς πίστεως ὁ θεὸς καὶ αἱ διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ περὶ τῶν δικαίων ἐπαγγελίαι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀδίκων αἱ περὶ κολάσεως διδασκαλίαι, ὅτι τὸν ἀνατραπέντα Χριστια νὸν ἐκ τοῦ παραδέξασθαι τοὺς κατὰ Χριστιανῶν τοῦ Κέλσου λόγους εἰκός ἐστιν ἀποβαλόντα τὸν λόγον συναποβαλεῖν καὶ τὸ δόγμα, [οὗ], φησί, μήτε Χριστιανοὶ ἀποσταῖεν μήτε μηδεὶς ἄλλος ἀνθρώπων. Ἀλλὰ φιλανθρωπότερον οἶμαι Κέλσου Χρύσιππον πεποιη κέναι ἐν τῷ περὶ παθῶν θεραπευτικῷ, βουλόμενον θεραπεῦσαι τὰ πάθη ὡς κατεπείγοντα καὶ ἐνοχλοῦντα τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν προηγουμένως μὲν τοῖς δοκοῦσιν αὐτῷ ὑγιέσι λόγοις δευτέρως δὲ καὶ τρίτως κἂν τοῖς μὴ ἀρέσκουσι τῶν δογμά των· "Κἂν γὰρ τρία", φησίν, "ᾖ γένη τῶν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ οὕτω θεραπευτέον τὰ πάθη, οὐ περιεργαζόμενον ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς φλεγμονῆς τῶν παθῶν τὸ προκαταλαβὸν δόγμα τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους ἐνοχλούμενον, μή πως τῇ ἀκαίρῳ περὶ τὴν ἀνατροπὴν τῶν προκαταλαβόντων τὴν ψυχὴν δογμάτων σχολῇ ἡ ἐγχωροῦσα θεραπεία παραπόληται". Φησὶ δὲ ὅτι, "Κἂν ἡδονὴ ᾖ τὸ ἀγαθόν, καὶ τοῦτο φρονῇ ὁ ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους κρατούμενος, οὐδὲν ἧττον αὐτῷ βοηθητέον καὶ παραδεικτέον ὅτι καὶ τοῖς ἡδονὴν τἀγαθὸν καὶ τέλος τιθεμένοις ἀνομολο γούμενόν ἐστι πᾶν πάθος". Ἐχρῆν τοίνυν καὶ τὸν Κέλσον, ἅπαξ παραδέξασθαι λέγοντα τὰ περὶ τῶν εὖ βιωσάντων δόγματα ὡς εὐδαιμονη σόντων καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀδίκων ὡς πάμπαν αἰωνίοις κακοῖς συσχεθησομένων, ἀκολούθως ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖν καί, εἰ οἷόν τ' ἦν, μετὰ τὸν φαινόμενον αὐτῷ προηγούμενον λόγον ἐπικατασκευάσαι καὶ διὰ πλειόνων ἀποδεῖξαι ὅτι ἀληθῶς οἱ ἄδικοι πάμπαν αἰωνίοις κακοῖς συσχεθήσονται καὶ οἱ εὖ βιώσαντες εὐδαιμονήσουσι.